La Professionista

I recently sat through an hour presentation on the importance of having a good brand. Not like a household name type brand. Basically what potential employers might do when considering you for a position. They might log onto google.com and search your name and up pops your "brand" - your online self. The speakers reminded us of the importance of having a good slogan for yourself when speaking to the executives in the elevator AND having a good online presence. Such as not having your mardi gras or halloween sexy kitten pictures on myspace, but if that's how you roll, then child please...set your settings to private. I also learned that facebook is received a little better than myspace in the business world. (Mental note: cross over to the darkside and join facebook later tonite).

But in order to make yourself stand out in the list of resumes (and NO... pink resumes aren't cute unless you're elle woods) will require stepping outside the box by joining professional groups, volunteer organizations, contributing to technical subject blogs in order to get yourself out there and have a presence on the web. Write a blog that employers might want to read, and get your friends to leave comments so that it's clear you're not writing to no one.

All good advice.

And it all made me think what my brand would be. I am a confident person with a sassy attitude who operates more on the relationship-building side of the business to get the job done than managing the small details. I'm Latin so I am social and loud, but an engineer who works best under a deadline. I'm the first one to remember your name and more likely to ask you about how your latest project is going than to shuffle down the hall w/ my head down, unless it's between 8 and9:30am, then i'm crawling (not shuffling) towards the coffee and it's best to leave me alone till 10 just to be safe. I'm the one who appreciates the womanly things in life like a sizable shoe and lip gloss collection (can never have too much of either - can i hear an Amen?). And I can feel just as comfortable in field clothing tromping around the jobsite as I do in 3" heels running around the office.

I guess without even knowing it, I already have a brand. My name is Davina, and my brand is Professionista. That's Italian for professional. Or sassy for a semi-girly, always glossy engineer. You don't believe me? Search me and find out. And comment on this blog please!